Dear Sputnik

XVI

- TAEHYUN -

"I want to play next," Beomgyu announced, his words slurring slightly.

Taehyun watched as Beomgyu took over Yeonjun's position at the opposite end of the table and faced Taehyun's direction. Beomgyu was drunk, Taehyun knew that. His protective instincts kicked him while he watched Yeonjun and Soobin refill the cups in preparation for the next game. He wanted to play against Beomgyu and lose, so that he wouldn't get even more drunk. Taehyun had watched him chug two bottles of soju and almost fall down if Taehyun wasn't there to catch him. There was no way that he would want to win, knowing that Beomgyu could risk getting even more drunk. From what he had heard from Soobin, Huening Kai, and Yeonjun, Beomgyu seemed to get chaotic when he was drunk.

Taehyun looked as Beomgyu gripped the table to steady himself. He needed to stop this, but he didn't want to make it too obvious that he was worried about Beomgyu. Beomgyu wasn't in the right state of mind. Taehyun didn't know why he had a strong urge to protect Beomgyu. It wasn't like they were very close. It was almost an innate reaction; his mind was speaking for him.

"Maybe Soobin and I should play first," Taehyun suggested, "It would give you some time to recuperate."

"No, I want to play!" Beomgyu commanded before letting out a loud laugh.

"You better let him play," Yeonjun said with a chuckle, "You don't want to make Beomgyu mad."

Taehyun nodded slowly, grabbing the alcohol-soaked ping pong ball from one of the cups and he glanced at Beomgyu. He was still laughing hysterically while holding onto the table. After a moment, he settled down and held the ball in his palm.

"You first," Taehyun murmured.

Beomgyu balanced the ping pong ball in his hand before leaning forward on the table, almost knocking over the newly-filled cups. He closed one of his eyes and studied Taehyun's cups, but his eyes were unfocused. With a grunt, he tossed the ping pong ball and it bounced off the table and landed in the grass next to Taehyun.

"Shit," Beomgyu muttered as Taehyun grabbed the ping pong ball from the grass and wiped it with his shirt.

This would be a lot harder to blow this game than he thought. Would it be easier for Taehyun just to win to get it over with and hope that Beomgyu would have time to recover? No, he couldn't. He didn't want Beomgyu to drink even more than he already had in such a short time period.

"Taehyun might do a clean sweep on you, Beomgyu," Huening Kai commented with a laugh.

"Shut up," Beomgyu muttered.

Taehyun held the ball in his hand, focusing on the best angle that wouldn't draw attention. He already proved that he was great at this game, especially going up against someone as good as Yeonjun. He had to make this seem like he was just unlucky. Would Beomgyu even be able to hit one of his cups? After seeing his first turn go by, Taehyun doubted it.

Taehyun focused and angled the ping pong ball towards one of the back cups. He tossed it and watched as it hit the lid of one of the cups and bounced off into the grass. He sighed aloud, despite his relief inside.

The next few turns went like that, Beomgyu had even landed the ball in a couple of his cups. Beomgyu was still laughing with each cup he scored and each time Taehyun was forced to drink. The suspicion seemed the be raising among the guys, though.